William H Keeler

Roman Catholic Archbishop William H. Keeler of Baltimore, an approachable churchman devoted to working with other Christians and Jews, has been elected president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Keeler has been a diplomatic trouble-shooter when inter-religious links have seemed endangered. He was elected Tuesday from a field of 10 nominees, winning an overwhelming majority of 173 votes on a first ballot, 67% of the 263 votes cast.

As a Boy Scout in Lebanon, Pa., in the 1940s, William Keeler learned more than building campfires and tying square knots. He learned something about God. Summer camp brought the Roman Catholic youngster into contact with Protestants and Jews. "And that offered me many opportunities to work with people from other churches and to engage in a kind of informal dialogue with them, to see their goodness and their interest in things that were good," he said.

As a Boy Scout in Lebanon, Pa., in the 1940s, William Keeler learned more than building campfires and tying square knots. He learned something about God. Summer camp brought the Roman Catholic youngster into contact with Protestants and Jews. "And that offered me many opportunities to work with people from other churches and to engage in a kind of informal dialogue with them, to see their goodness and their interest in things that were good," he said.

Roman Catholic Archbishop William H. Keeler of Baltimore, an approachable churchman devoted to working with other Christians and Jews, has been elected president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Keeler has been a diplomatic trouble-shooter when inter-religious links have seemed endangered. He was elected Tuesday from a field of 10 nominees, winning an overwhelming majority of 173 votes on a first ballot, 67% of the 263 votes cast.

Bishop William H. Keeler of Harrisburg, Pa., was named Tuesday as the archbishop of Baltimore. Keeler, 58, succeeds Archbishop William D. Borders, who submitted his resignation in accordance with church law after turning 75 in October.

A 13-year-old Whittier youth who was severely wounded in a random drive-by shooting and afterward prayed for his assailants was honored Friday by eight American cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. Richard Bautista was shot in September and spent five months in a hospital before being sent home for further recovery. "We must pray for those who shot me," he said. "They do not have love in their hearts."

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony has been named head of a committee to draft a new statement on AIDS to augment one that many of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops considered morally inadequate.

Archbishop Roger M. Mahony, back in Los Angeles after leading a U.S. Catholic fact-finding trip to the Middle East, said the overwhelming opinion there is that peace in the region "requires an active, engaged U.S. policy committed to justice and security for the Palestinian people and the people of Israel." At their Nov. 6-9 meeting in Baltimore, American Catholic bishops will consider issuing their first major statement on Middle East tensions since 1978.

Clergymen who will help select the next pontiff knelt before Pope John Paul II on Saturday to receive the red hat of cardinal and hear praise for what some have endured: gulag prison camps and bloodshed in Bosnia. "In Rome, you have the history of the early Christian martyrs. Today, you had some living martyrs," said one of the 30 new cardinals, Archbishop William H. Keeler, 63, of Baltimore. Another American elevated to cardinal was Detroit Archbishop Adam J. Maida, 64.

For the first time, the Vatican newspaper's presses are rolling outside of Rome--and beginning operations in Baltimore. Cardinal William H. Keeler said Monday that the premiere issue of the weekly English-language edition of L'Osservatore Romano, the organ of Pope John Paul II's speeches and writings, was sent to 2,500 subscribers in the United States last week by the Cathedral Foundation, the center of Catholic Church works in Baltimore.

Surgeon General nominee Dr. Jocelyn Elders has sent a letter to U.S. Catholic leaders apologizing for any offense that was caused by controversial statements she made about the church while director of the Arkansas Department of Health. The comment came during a news clip in a televised interview with Elders that appeared July 13. In that news clip, she is shown saying, "Look who's fighting the pro-choice movement, a celibate, male-dominated church."

In an effort to ease sharp interfaith tensions caused by Pope John Paul II's recent audience with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, American Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders held two informal meetings in New York this week with the Pope's secretary of state, parties involved in the closed sessions said Friday.